Automobile-lock



C. H. LEAHAN.

AUTOMOBILE LOCK. APPLICATION men SEPT. 23. 191B.

Patented N 0v. 4, 1919.

the car, because it can CHARLES HENRY T @FFTQJ.

LEAHAN, WAEE, MASSACHUSETTS.

AUTOMOBILE-LOCK.-

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 4t, 1919..

Application filed September 23, 1918. Serial No. 255,227.

To all whom e'tmay concern:

Be it known that I, Cimnnns H. LEAHAN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Ware, in the county of Hampshire and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Automobile-Lock, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a lock which, use on Ford cars of the present construction, is capable of use on other cars with or without material modifications.

The principal objects of the invention are to provide a lock of a type which can be applied to the car most conveniently when the front 'heels are cramped and which will preven their being turned into a straight position even if experienced parties are able to start the car in spite of the lock, which is frequently found to be the case with many kinds of locks. l3y con 1- hining the locking of the levers, whlch is the object of many kinds of looks as well as this one, with the locking of the front wheels in cramped position the possibility of starting the car up or towing it off under otherpowermay still exist but it Wlll be of no advantage to parties trying to take be driven or towed only in circles.

Another object of the invention is to provide a device of this character of extremely simple construction so that it can be made Without material expense and can be made strong and heavy enough to avoid its removal by hack-smv or file without at least necessitating a long period of work in order to accomplish that. Further ObJBClLS and advantages of the invention Wlll appear hereinafter.

.Refercnce is to be had to the accompanyin drawings, in which iigure 153 is a'view of the steering wheel of :1V Ford car with a preferred embodiment of this invention applied thereto shown In locked position;

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the shackle of the lock and Fig. 3 is a skeleton plan of the wheel base of the car showing the position in which it is locked by this device.

The invention is shown as applied to the steering wheel mounted on the column 11 of the car. The steering wheel is so located that when the front Wheels 12 are turned to the position shown in Fig, 3 or.

to the exact opposite position the arms 13 0f the steering wheel come to an intermediate position, so that the shackle ll of the lock can be placed over them, one arm between each two opposite sets of the wheel arms and its ehds can be brought into the openings in the quadrant 15 with which the steering column. is provided. An important feature of. this invention consists in the cramping of the wheels when the car is left locked.

The shackle ll is of a U-sh'aped form with a perforation 16 in the center of its top designed to receive the wheel nut 17 so as to locate the lock accurately in central position on the wheel and prevent also its being shifted from central position thereon. The arms of the shackle pass between the arms 13 of the steering wheel which, on account of the fixation of the arms against turning by passing through the openings in the quadrant, prevents the wheel from turning after the lock is applied. The two arms of the shackle pass down through the usual openings in the quadrant and arc provided with perforations 18 below through which one arm of the of pad-lock 20 Fig. 1.

Normally when the car is stopped and intended to be left while the driver is away, the spark lever 21 and the throttle lever are brought together as far as possible along the quadrants and are left in approximately central position as indicated in Fig. 1. Therefore the two arms of thc shackle pass down at the sides of these levers and prevent either of them being moved away from the non-active position, so that these levers although not locked absolutely against any motion at all are locked against motion far enough to enable the car to be driven under ordinary circumstances.

There will be no need of operation of the device said, as it is apparent inexperienced operator will, if he has ever seen a lock applied, be apt to apply it in the right position to prevent the moving of the car along the streets in the ordinary way even by towing. It will also be natural for him to lock throttle lover.

The simplicity of the device is obvious and the fact that it must necessarily be applied in the right. place has been explained.

hasp of any ordinary form will pass as indicated in the spark lever file or hack-saw. One of the most impor-' tant results of this invention is that even that cannot be accomplished, and it cannot be even if the lock is carelessly placed so as to leave the spark and throttle levers free from it.

Although I have illustrated and described theinveution as applied to a Ford car'it' Will'be understood 0 course that by simple modifications that can be made it can be applied to cars of other makes. Therefore I-do not wish to be limited to the make of car or to all the details of construction herein shown and described, but What I do claim is i In a device of the class set forth, a U- shaped shackle consisting of a single piece of thin metal with arms depending between the spokes of thewheel and through openin gs in'the quadrant, the shackle having an integral arched portion provided with a a central nut-receivin perforation and' its extreme lower ends being flat and in sub' stantially parallel planes and provided with holes located centrallywith respect to said perforation, and a locking device comprisin a straight rodpassing throughboth of sai holes at a point below the quadrant, for the purpose set forth.

. In testimony whereof I have hereunto affixed my signature.

- CHARLES HENRY LEAHAN. 

